Ashleigh Barty vs Alison Riske
26th January 00:00hrs
Tennis – Australian Open – 4th Rd
Pick Draw
Bookmaker Unibet
Odds: 8/11 odds taken 20:28 GMT, Friday, 24th January
Australian home favourite Ashleigh Barty will be stepping into fourth-round action at her home Grand Slam on Sunday. Barty is the current world number one and the outright favourite to lift the title at Melbourne Park this year.
It is America’s Alison Riske who she will be trying to get past and make it to the quarter-finals. Baryy is the heavy odds-on favourite to win the fixture.
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Barty in great shape for a title challenge
After a slow start to the season in having lost her first match at the Brisbane International in early January, Barty has not missed a beat since then. She powered her way to a title in Adelaide, and has, as expected, sailed through to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Her campaign at Melbourne Park did see her lose the opening set of her opening match against Lesia Tusrenko. But then Barty won the next two sets 6-1 6-1 to bury any hint of an upset.
Then quick, routine wins over Polona Hercog and Elena Rybankina was what Barty fired off. This is the Slam she would want the most of course. She made her Grand Slam winning breakthrough last year by collecting the French Open title. That was after a quarter-final berth at last year’s Australian Open, her best effort at the tournament. Barty has been to at least the fourth round in each of her last five Grand Slam appearances.
The interesting things about this match is that Alison Riske has won the two previous meetings. American Riske, who is currently ranked 18th in the World took the first win over Barty in their 2016 Eastbourne semi-final meeting. But perhaps more significantly they met last year at Wimbledon and again it was Riske who came out on top against the number one seed, even though she had dropped the first set.
Can Riske rise to the occasion?
Riske opened the season with a quarter-final loss at the Brisbane International against eventual winner Karolina Plsivkoa. She really had to show some nerve in her third-round match in this Australian Open 2020 campaign. The American was facing Germany’s Julia Goerges and having lost the first set 6-1 Riske found herself in a second-set tie break to try and say in the match. She edged that and that was well on top in the deciding set.
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That was the second of her three matches in this campaign in which Riske has needed three sets to progress. This fourth-round place in the draw is Riske’s best career effort at the Australian Open. It is only the third time in her entire career that the now 29-year-old Riske has been to the fourth round of a Grand Slam.
Ashleigh Barty vs Alison Riske Betting Advice
The head to head lead that Riske has over Barty is fascinating. However, this may well end up being a lopsided game in the other direction. Barty is in phenomenal form at the moment, really on top of her game. She is not sitting as the highest-ranked player in the world for no reason.
Key Facts – Ashleigh Barty vs Alison Riske Betting Tip
- Ashleigh Barty is the world number one
- Ashleigh Barty has won her last two matches without dropping a set
- Alison Riske leads the head to head against Barty
Barty will want to continue winning matches as quickly as possible and we just don’t see enough in the arsenal of Riske to get the better of her this time. The 2-0 set betting score in favour of Barty has to be the way to go.
The best betting odds for Ashleigh Barty vs Alison Riske
Ashleigh Barty to win: 2/9 at Bet365
Alison Riske: 10/3 at Bet365
